Moreno’s bicycle kick stuns Providence Park and Sporting Kansas City

The Portland Timbers celebrated Mother’s Day a day early with a 1-0 victory over Sporting Kansas City last night at Providence Park. Portland was without captain Diego Chara in the midfield due to a lower leg injury but had Joao Ortiz and David Ayala to fill his boots.

Portland started the match with the intensity that comes with playing at home in front of the Timbers Army. In the 3rd minute Antony took a run at goal but ended up tangled with SKC keeper, John Pulskamp, and his shot was saved.

The only goal of the match came early in the 10th minute when David Da Costa popped a cross over from the left of the box to Santiago Moreno in the center of goal. Santi sent the ball up with his left foot and bicycle kicked with his left straight to the back of the net! After his goal, he ran straight to the sideline, jumped the barricade, and found his mom for a celebratory hug. The Timbers Army erupted in chants of, “Ohhhhh Santi Morenooooooo!”

Maxime Crépeau was in goal for Portland and made two consecutive saves in the 15th and 16th minute when Dániel Salló tried with a right and a left footed shot for Sporting. Shapi Suleymanov also took a shot in the 16th that was blocked by Claudio Bravo.

Moreno tried for a brace in the 21st but was denied by fantastic save by Pulskamp. Santi took service on the resulting corner kick and found David Ayala, who’s header just missed.  David Da Costa had a shot blocked five minutes later by Jansen Miller.

Da Costa took service on a Timbers’ corner kick in the 37th minute and Santi’s right footed shot went wide to the left.

SKC managed to get two shots off in the 42nd and 44th minute. Again, it was Sallói, who’s shot missed, and Suleymanov, who’s attempt was blocked by Bravo, who were making things happen for Kansas City.

Antony managed to get a shot off at 25 yards out in the 1 minute of stoppage time added to the first half. Hist shot went wide to the right. The first half ended with Portland up 1-0 on Sporting Kansas City.

Kansas City adjusted well during the break and were a much stronger presence during the second half. Manu García took a shot that missed in the 48th minute to start the half and set the tone for Sporting.

Bravo’s header off a corner in the 53rd missed to the left. SKC responded on the following play with a shot by Dániel Sallói just outside the box that also missed to the left.  Sallói took another shot in the 61st that was saved by Max.

In the 62nd minute, Santi almost had a 2nd goal with a header that went just over the center cross bar.

Bravo was given the first yellow card of the match in the 67th minute for a foul just outside of the box. Phil Neville made his first substitutions of the match during the stoppage. Kevin Kelsy came in for Felipe Mora and Christian Paredes took over in the midfield for Ayala.

Kansas City also made three substitutions during the pause. Most notably, Sallói’s night was over with Erik Thommy replacing him. Sporting was unable to capitalize on the prime location for the free kick that followed the substitutions.

Shapi Suleymanov took the first yellow card for SKC in the 73rd minute for a challenge on Bravo from behind. Jake Davis got the teams 2nd yellow for a foul on Juan Mosquera the following minute.

Portland made their next round of substitutions in the 78th minute bringing on Jonathan Rodriguez for Da Costa and new midfielder Omir Fernández for Moreno. Suleymanov’s night was over for Sporting in the 81st minute, replaced by Santiago Muñóz. Eric Miller entered the match for Mosquera in the 84th as the last substitution of the game.

Fernández sent a beautiful ball in from a corner kick in the 88th minute. Center back Finn Surman’s header from the center of the box missed to the right in the final action of regular time. Sporting had a missed attempt in the 90+2 and the final whistle blew at 90+4 with the Timbers up 1-0.

Head Coach Phil Neville said after the match, “Tonight we looked like a team that was going to keep a clean sheet and see a win out of the game. We had some really good performances from people, and I felt it was a really important victory.”